Internet Boyfriends
Boys + Bunnies + Berghain at the Brits + the Birth of Korean Cool
This week on Cool Shiny’s Calendar of Cultural Moments
Today:
🎵💿💖 Harry Styles drops new album: Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally
🎞️🐈⬛🧸 The Bride! drops in theaters
Sunday: 🎵🥁📱 Harry Styles One Night in Manchester on Netflix
Thursday: 🎡🍿💿 SXSW begins
Kaley on Quinn: A company with a finger on the pulse
Quinn, a subscription app for audio erotica that started in 2022, positions itself as bringing users “immersive erotic stories from your favorite voices on the internet.” True to their word, they’ve landed some recent narrators that’ve caught our notice.
Late last year, Quinn was the first brand to capitalize on the breakout success of HBO’s Heated Rivalry, which Rachel Karten noted in her article “Quinn moves fast.” In the Q&A, Quinn’s leaders credit excitement among their engaged BookTok community as a reason for early confidence in the show’s success. This echoes the point we’ve made about the most valuable data coming from niche communities and the importance of constant cultural listening.
This week, Quinn teased and then dropped the news that their most recent narrator is The Traitors’ Rob Rausch, proving once again that they don’t just move fast - they move correct.
Looking at all of Quinn’s major collabs since their inception just four years ago shows just how well Quinn understands culture, who the internet is currently swooning over, and most importantly why.
Special shout out to Jessie Williams who was the first well known actor to join the Quinn train. And as for ones to watch, keep an eye on Thomas Doherty, a Scottish actor with a Quinn Original who just joined Hulu’s hit show Paradise. Lastly, calling it now: Quinn’s next partnership will be with Tyriq Withers (Reminders of Him).
This Week In Cool Shiny Culture:
🦘Kaley’s Cool: Chris Fleming’s new stand up special on HBO
Chris Fleming is every standup comedian’s favorite stand up comedian. Marc Maron said Chris is saving stand up comedy and calls him “a marvel to behold,” Caleb Hearon’s repeatedly called him his favorite comedian, and Conan O’Brien produced his new special, Chris Fleming: Live at the Palace out now on HBO. Like Sasha Colby before him, Chris has achieved a cult-like following over years of performing - and has had a handful of viral moments - but hasn’t achieved the level of widespread recognition people who know him feel his work deserves. There’s really no one out there doing it like him. Definitely no one that uses the amount of stage that he does. He runs around, dances, scuttles like a crab, prances like a dressage horse. His comedy is frenetic and physical. It’s observational but so hyper specific as to be truly original. If you’re a fan of alt comedy or good, form-breaking standup, he’s one to watch!
🇰🇷 Megan’s Cool: The Birth of Korean Cool by Euny Hong
As our readers know, we’ve recently been double clicking into the dominance of Korean pop culture also known as hallyu. As part of this exploration, I read The Birth of Korean Cool: How One Nation Is Conquering the World Through Pop Culture by Euny Hong. Released in 2014, the book is a prescient deep dive into Korea’s history of investment in its own cultural exports on the heels of a major global success: PSY’s Gangnam Style’s global takeover in 2012. Today, fandom and fan culture are commonplace, but they were emergent when Euny released The Birth of Korean Cool. In 2025, the book was re-released and Euny got to do my favorite thing: say “i told you so” via added chapters about BTS, Parasite, and Squid Game. She also wrote an op-ed about KPop Demon Hunters for The New York Times last summer for further reading!
🤍 Kaley’s Shiny: Rosalía at the BRIT awards
There were a number of fun performances at last week’s BRIT Awards (the British equivalent of the Grammys): Harry Styles, Dua Lipa, Sombr, Olivia Dean. But none gave me goosebumps like Rosalía’s performance of “Berghain” with Björk. Like the song, the performance started out operatic before transitioning into a techno-infused bacchanal banger. She is so wildly talented and fun to watch!
🐇 Megan’s Shiny: Jellycat x The Huntington Library
Spring is going super well over here in Southern California (nevermind that it’s technically still winter 😅🌎🔥) so I decided to get my 10k steps in at The Huntington Library in Pasadena. Their gift shop is epic on a regular basis, but this time it was extra special because they have Jellycats! My dog won’t allow me to personally have anything cute and stuffed, but I love buying these for my friends and family and nothing beats checking out the product IRL. The current offerings are, of course, leaning into an easter in the garden theme, and couldn’t be any cuter.
Opposite of Cynical: 🍎 Pay
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On se voit à la discothèque,
Megan & Kaley
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